Death of a Queen
As much as Cadence hated Holland, held her partially responsible for Drew’s death and for changing her life and the lives of her friends forever, she looked down into the eyes of the monster beneath her and realized she was causing her to suffer excruciating pain. It was over; Cadence had won. There was no reason to prolong it any more.
Keeping her left hand firmly planted on Holland’s throat, she reached back with her right hand, drew the Glock from her leg holster, placed the gun against Holland’s chest directly above her heart, and pulled the trigger.
Despite the damage to her throat, Holland still managed to shriek. It was ear shattering. The same breeze Cadence had felt from her mouth earlier blew past her again, the stench almost too much for her to bear as Holland’s body turned to ashes beneath her.
It took Cadence a moment to realize it was over. Inhaling deeply, she smelled the char of burned flesh in the air and knew she was smelling dead Vampire.
Her heart was still pounding as she slowly stood and dusted herself off. Surveying the room, she saw that only Hunters and Guardians remained, except for one lone Vampire cowering in the back behind Sabin and Genevieve. Sebastian had survived unharmed.
Jamie was in the back of the room by the stage, and Cadence realized someone had been hurt pretty badly. As she walked over toward Aaron, she realized it was Chantel. Her arm was missing, but the wound had been cauterized by Jamie and he had been able to heal the veins where she had been bleeding out, which saved her life. There wasn’t much they could do about her arm, but at least she would live.
Aaron was coming to her, too, and when she reached him, she forgot all about any awkwardness or agreements. She needed his strength. She needed him.
He must’ve forgotten what he’d told her as well as he pulled her in. “That was agonizing,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “I didn’t know how much longer I could stand to watch that. Thank god you didn’t attempt to decapitate her. As strong as she was, that could’ve taken all night.”
She leaned into him, resting her head on his chest, feeling her heartrate finally slow. She couldn’t help but laugh at his words, though she was still dazed. “Well, a wise man once told me, ‘If you have the shot, take it.’ So, I did.”
She looked up into his eyes, and bit his bottom lip. Cadence wondered if the fact that everyone was staring at them was the only thing that prevented him from leaning down and kissing her. He looked like he wanted to. Staring into those blue eyes, she realized that it really didn’t matter what he had told her a few days ago; she was falling in love with him. By the looks of it, there was still a chance he felt the same way.
Pushing those thoughts aside for a moment, Cadence looked away and leaned her head against his chest, taking a moment to recover from the excursion of battle. She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths, content to let the world melt away for a moment. She was completely safe and secure now, with Aaron’s arms wrapped around her. The smell of the ocean coming from him was soothing. More than anything, she wanted to go back to the hotel and fall asleep in his arms.
After a few moments, however, she realized everyone was still standing around staring at them, including Christian and Eliza, which made things really weird. And the police had to be nearby now. It was time they made a hasty retreat. She smiled up at Aaron and stepped away from him, intending to gather up the guns she had thrown off before the fight.
“Cadence,” he said, “I wanted to tell you—"
Aaron’s words were interrupted. As she stepped away from him, she caught a flash of light out of the corner of his eye. Aaron must have seen it, too. He stopped talking, and with only a split second to react, he threw himself on top of her. They both tumbled to the ground, Aaron landing on top of her. She knew she hadn’t been shot, but otherwise, she had no idea what had happened.
Where had the gunfire come from?
The next thing that registered was Eliza shouting. “I was one step too late,” she said. “Damnit!” From her IAC, Cadence could see that Eliza was wrestling with Sebastian, Sabin standing nearby, clearly in shock. Eliza drew her weapon and shot Sebastian right in the heart. He exploded in a cloud of ash.
Cadence realized Aaron was still on top of her, but he wasn’t moving.
“Aaron, are you okay?” she asked. If Sebastian had tried to shoot her, he’d missed. And Aaron had to be okay because a Vampire couldn’t shoot a Guardian. The bullet would just bounce off.
So… why wasn’t he answering her?
“What… what happened?” Genevieve asked, this time in English. She came flying up behind Sabin.
“He grabbed Sabin’s hand and fired a shot,” Eliza explained, still breathing heavily.
The words were still registering when she heard Sabin’s stunned voice say, “We completely trusted Sebastian. I would have never thought he would go Rogue.”
Shock wasn’t allowing her mind to work too quickly, but eventually, it all came together.
Sebastian had fired the shot… with Sabin’s hand on the weapon, too.
And Sabin was a Hunter….
“Aaron?” she said, pushing him up off of her so that she had unwedged herself. As she carefully rolled him over, his warm, red blood began to ooze across the dance floor.
Cadence’s eyes widened in horror as her heart beat out of control. “Aaron!” she screamed. “What? How did this happen?” She didn’t need a mechanical explanation, but she needed an answer from god.
He was remaining silent on the subject… as was Aaron.
Aaron was looking at her, still conscious though he was fading fast. “No!” she pleaded. “You’ve got to stay with me!”
She felt hands on her shoulders and realized Jamie was there. He was weakened from healing Chantal, but surely he had some energy left. She just hoped it was enough. Eliza ran over with towels from the bar, and Jamie applied pressure to the bullet hole, which was located right under Aaron’s rib cage on his right side.
Moving aside, Cadence lifted his head and cradled him in her lap as Jamie continued his work. Through her tears, she could see that Jamie was fading almost as quickly as Aaron was, and Eliza wrapped her arms around Jamie to give him the support he needed to stay upright. The rest of the team kept their distance, but they were watching intently. She could feel their eyes. Eliza was muttering curse words under her breath as she cried quietly.
Everyone was shocked.
Jamie’s voice was weak when he said, “Aaron, is this helping? How are you doing?”
Through the IAC, he responded, “I… think it might have hit a lung. I can’t talk. I tried….”
“Okay, don't try then.” Jamie had also switched to the IAC, a sign he was also weakening. “Do you feel anything at all?”
“I feel… warm.
“Oh, god,” Cadence mumbled. Did that mean he was slipping into death?
“No, that’s good,” Jamie explained. “That means I’m healing him.” Back to Aaron, he pointed out, “Of course, if you actually have a collapsed lung, that will take its toll on me. Hopefully, I can patch it. I used a lot of my power on Sabin.”
“It doesn’t hurt as much now.” Aaron closed his eyes, though, and that wasn’t a good sign to her. Would he lie to spare their feelings? Probably.
Cadence hoped he was telling the truth, but she still wasn’t convinced he wasn’t feeling better because he was dying. Surely, Jamie would save him. He just had to.
She reached down and grabbed Aaron’s hand, refusing to consider the idea of losing him. She ran her fingers through his hair, hoping to soothe him some. Without him, how could she possibly go on? How could any of them? “Please, stay with us. Don’t leave us,” she said, wiping at her tears with the back of her free hand.
He opened his eyes again and looked into hers. She felt like, as long as they didn’t break that connection, he would be forced to stay.
She couldn’t consider an alternative, not when she had so much she needed to say to him.
What had he been trying to tell her when he’d been shot?
She might never know.
